Diagnostic imaging procedures often use specific scan configurations that allow acquisition and reconstruction of imaging data from a desired region of interest (ROI) of a subject, such as a patient. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), for example, includes a plurality of scan configurations that specify parameters related to patient position, positioning of radio-frequency coils (RF) and landmarking an ROI of the patient for specific imaging protocols. In particular, landmarking registers a patient with a scanner coordinate system to allow an imaging volume to be moved to a homogeneous, imaging portion, for example, an iso-center of a magnet of the MRI system for desired imaging.
The landmarking process is many times a manual process in which a MRI system operator defines the center of an imaging region through mechanical, optical, or other suitable means. For example, the system operator may position the patient on an examination table, position a magnet resonance (MR) coil at a desired ROI of the patient, followed by manually positioning the table within the magnet bore such that the desired ROI coincides with scanner alignment mechanisms (e.g., alignment lights). The quality and consistency of landmarking and patient positioning in these arrangements, thus, mostly relies on the operator's skill and experience.
Thus, in many conventional MRI exams, the patient is manually landmarked by the scanner operator at the beginning of the exam. The landmark procedure, like any human process, is subject to error. While a landmark error is undesirable, it is also problematic in the context of a MRI examination with automated scan plane prescription. If the patient is improperly landmarked by the operator, images used for the automated scan plane prescription may not contain the patient anatomy needed for proper computation of scan planes. Consistency in manual landmarking, however, may be difficult for complex anatomies like the heart or joints, sometimes leading to incorrect patient positioning. In particular, an error in judging the relative position of the coil by the operator may cause the center of the coil to be positioned at an offset from the iso-center to a less homogenous position of the magnet.
Thus, a patient landmark may be incorrectly placed by the scanner operator, causing one or more problems when scanning or resulting in the acquisition of images of sub-par image quality. Additionally, natural or pathology driven variations in patient anatomy can make the problem of finding a correct localizer visually challenging. Accordingly, because clinical decisions regarding diagnosis and treatment of disease conditions are often made based on certain image-derived parameters, accurate characterization of specific features of the anatomy of interest allows for a better understanding of patient anatomy and physiology, which in turn aids in diagnosis. Inaccurate estimations of clinically relevant parameters such as a location of a lesion derived from images reconstructed using erroneous configurations, thus, may lead to incorrect diagnosis. This is especially the case in follow-up examinations where morphological changes between examinations are used to assess the efficacy of a treatment or progression of disease.